Output shifting apparatus



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR.

C921. F SCHHEFEP C. F. SCHAEFER OUTPUT SHIFTING APPARATUS May 4, 1954Filed Jan. 18, 1950 AWL gQ y 4, 1954 c. F. SCHAEFER OUTPUT SHIFTINGAPPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 18, 1950 /O8i 5 A INVENTOR. C921.F cungFEE AML $9M 1477'0PA/EY y 1954 c. F. SCHAEFER 2,677,286

OUTPUT SHIFTING APPARATUS Filed Jan. 18, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR.Cam F SZ/MA-FH? awash? Patented May 4, 1954 UNITED PATENT OFF I CE.

OUT-PUT? SHIETING; APPARATUS CarlF. Schaefer, BortlWashington, N. Y.,assignor,

to The, Norden Laboratories. Corporation, New York, N. Y5, a corporationof- Connecticut Application January. 18, 1950, SerialNo. 139,291

9'. Claims. 1;.

My invention relatesto anoutput"shifting apeparatusand mor particularly;to a device for.- transferring input. mechanical. energy, from: a.source of energy'fromt oneoutput channel to 1 another, output channel ata predetermined. point.

It is-frequently desirable in-many applications todrivea member from adriving means until a predetermined conditionv is reached, after; whicha it. is. desired, to drive another driven member from. the; samedriving means, andlin the reversal of, the, motion to disconnect thedriving means from the seconddrivenmember and. pick: up thefirsttdrivenmember. at exactly the same point at. which the drive. to.this member. was dis.

connected... Another aspect of: theisame problem is. to. drive a. firstmember, until ;a predetermined condition, is reached and. then:disconnect the:- driven. member from the-drive. permitting the drivingmember to idle, and in the, reversal of the motion to again. connect:the. driven-member to the driving member at exactlythe-same point atwhich the. driving means was rendered inopera-tive with respect to the,driven member. For

example; where the, driven member representsa. predetermined function ina. computer mechr anismthis funotionmay become. solarge that itwill,exceed the. limit of. the; capacity. of thecomv puter and.provisionmustbe made.tq. r,ender the. driving. means ineffective withrespect to the:-

driven. member. In. the .reversal-uv of, the: process the drivenvmembermustbe. picked up and rendered efiective to be driveniby. the driving.mem her at exactly the same-point. atwhicnit was dropped. By way ofillustration andnot byway of. limitation. let. us. assume that a.driving momher is being; rotated a aiunctionrof. the-tangent of. anangle.-. Aethe angle approaches 90 the tangent. will, approach:infinity. and 3;; point soon: will be. reached beyond. the capacity-ofthe com-- puter, which may. stillhave to run. for-other purposes. Under.these circumstances it becomes imperative toediseonneetthe.drivingmeanstfrom the driven. means; It; is alsov necessary to en'- dow.the. disconnecting means: with a: memory.

shaft and means for: disconnecting; the. output.

Other and further objectsof mytinvention will appear from thefollowingdescription,

In the accompanyi drawingswhich. form. part of, the instant.speeification. and; which. are. to be read in conjunctiontlwrewith,and.inwhichv like reference numerals are, used to, indicatelike parts in the various views:

Figure 1 isa planview. of-an assembly containing one embodiment. of myinvention.

Figure 2 isa sectional, view takenalong the, line 2.! of Figural.

Figure 3; is a. sectional-.view. drawn, on an en! larged scale, taken.alone the line,- 3.-3J of. Fig-- urev 1.

Figure 4.1a asectionalview drawn on.an.en-,. larged scale takenalongthe/line .4..-4-. of Figure 2.

Figure '5, is a fragmentary sectional view drawn, on a smaller; Scaleviewed. along, the line 57 5. of, Figures.

Figure. 5, is a schematic perspectiveview showinga detailof. a. lockingassembly with one outputichannel locked. v

Figure-7 is aview similantoFigure 6 showing. the parts in, position with:the. otheroutput chan nel locked.

Referring now to ,therdrawings, a frame Id of am. suitableconstruetionis, provided with 21113211" ofhearings l2. and. M in .whichashaft .2 5, which is theinputshait, is adaptedto rotate. A bracket I8 isrotatably mounted about shaft i6. adjacent.

bearing l2. by meansoibushings 54.. and- 56;. A bracket. leis rotatablymounted about shait-I 6:; by means of bushingsefliandfiz.adjacentbearing14. As, will be pointed out more fully hereinafter, an angle of 60?normallyexistsbetween: the axes of the'braekets, and-this is shown inEigure l'. Forpurposes of convenience:-inexplanation:and clarityinunderstandingthe-construction, the mack-- ets have beenshownassymmetrically; disposed 'in Figures 3- and 4.

A shaft 22 is mountedfor; rotation inbracket |8-- in bushings. 24: and;26;. Similarly a, Shitftz 28 is.rotatably 'earried bythe bracket zit-inbushings 39' and 32. Secured-;to;the shafmzbfor rotationtherewith is a:screw 34 iprovidediwith- 4 ear 36;.

A nut 38 threadedly engages the screw 34 and is formed with externalgear teeth 40. Similarly, a screw 42 is secured to the shaft 28 forrotation therewith and is formed integrally with a gear 44. Aninternally threaded member or nut 46 is threadedly engaged with thescrew 42 and is formed with gear teeth 48. A gear 58 having elongatedgear teeth 60 is rotatably carried by the shaft I6 in the bracket 20with the teeth 60 of the wide gear 58 in engagement with the teeth 43 ofthe nut 46. The wide gear 58 is secured to a gear 62 the teeth of whichmesh with the gear 44 formed on the screw 42. Similarly, a wide gear 64having elongated teeth 66 is ro tatably mounted upon the shaft I6 withinthe bracket I8 with the teeth 66 of the wide gear 64 meshing with theteeth 46 of the nut 38. A gear 68 is secured to the wide gear 64 forrotation therewith and its teeth mesh with the teeth of gear 36-, as canreadily be seen by reference to Figure 3. Intermediate the brackets I8and 20 I position a differential comprising a side gear I rotatablymounted upon the shaft I6, a second side gear 12 likewise rotatablymounted upon shaft I6 and a crosshead I4 secured to the shaft I6 by apin I6 so the crosshead will be constrained to rotate with shaft I6.Stub shafts I8 and 80 are carried by the crosshead 14. A gear 82 whichmeshes with both side gears 18 and "I2 is rotatably carried by the stubshaft I6. A gear 84 meshing with side gears I0 and I2 is rotatablycarried by the stub shaft 80. A locking arm 86 is secured to the sidegear I0 by rivets 88. Similarly, a looking arm 90 is secured to the sidegear I2 by rivets 92. The arms 86 and 90 are adapted to be selectivelylocked in a manner which will be pointed out more fully hereinafter. Agear 94 is secured to the side gear I0 for rotation therewith and mesheswith a gear 96 carried by the shaft 22 and pinned thereto by pin 98 forrotation therewith. A gear I 00 is secured to the side gear I2 forrotation therewith and meshes with a gear I02 which is pinned by pin I04to the shaft 28 so that the gear I02 will rotate therewith. An arm I9having a pin I06 is secured to the bracket I8. An arm 2I is secured tothe bracket 20 and is provided with a pin I08. The frame I0 is providedwith a pair of upwardly directed brackets I I0 in which I pivot a shaftI I2. A locking arm I I4 is pinned to the shaft II 2 by means of pin H6.A second locking arm IIS is pinned to the shaft III! by means of pinI20. The arms II4 and I I8 are secured to the shaft I I2 so that theymake an angle of 60 with each other. Arm II4 is adapted to coact witharm I9 to lock side gear 72, and arm 2| is adapted to coact with arm II8to lock differential side gear I0, as will be herein!- after more fullydescribed. In this lockingac-v tion arm 86 coacts with arm II4, and arm90 coacts with arm II8. I

Let us now assume that arm 66 is locked and that shaft I6 is rotating ina counterclockwise direction as viewed from the left. Since side gear I0is secured to arm 86 it will be locked. The rotation of the crosshead Mwill carry the gears 82 and 84 around in mesh with the locked side gearIII. This will cause the gear 82 to rotate in. a clockwise directionviewed from above and hence drive the side gear I2 in a counterclockwisedirection viewed from the left, thus driving the gear I00 in acounterclockwise direction. A spring is provided urging the bracket 20to rotate in a clockwise direction to prevent it from turning with theshaft IS. The gear I 00 meshes with the gear I02 rotating it and gear 44as -well'as screw 42. The gears I02 and 44 will be driven in a clockwisedirection as viewed from the left. The gear 44 meshes with the gear 62thus driving the wide gear 58 in a clockwise direction. There is adifference of one tooth between gears 44 and 62. The rotation of thescrew 42 relative to the nut 46 will advance the nut either to the rightor to the left depending on the direction of pitch of the coactingthreads. Let us assume that the rotation of the screw 42 will tend tomove the nut 46 to the right as viewed in Figure 3. The nut, however, isbeing rotated by the rotation of the wide gear 60 in .the same directionas the rotation of the screw 42. If. the speed of rotation of the nutwere the same as the speed of rotation of the screw, the nut wouldremain stationary and not advance along the screw. Since,

however, the gear 62 has one tooth more than the gear 44, the screw willrotate slightly faster than the speed at which the nut rotates dependingon the ratio of the numberof teeth in the gears 44 and 62. This willcause the nut to travel to the right, as viewed in Figure 3. One end ofthe intertooth space of the gear teeth 60 is provided with a stop I22which will lock gears 48 and 60.

When this occurs gear I02 Will be locked, and since it can no longerturn, the gear I00 will rotate the bracket 20 in a counterclockwisedirection with the shaft I6 bringing it from the position shown inFigure 3 to the position shown in Figure 4, rotating the arm 2I in acounterclockwise direction. The position of the stop contacting tooth ofthe gear 48 with respect to the stop I22 is a. record of the number ofrevolutions of the side gear I2 and hence a form of revolution counter.The pin I08 at the end of arm 2| will carry the arm II8 upwardly asviewed in Figure I, and the arm I I4 upwardly. The pin I 06 which iscarried by the endof the arm I 9 will be moved upwardly, thus rotatingthe bracket I8 in a counterclockwise direction and locking arm II4 fromrotary movement. The locking of arm II4 will immobilize it and arm IIB,thus locking the arm 90 which coacts with the arm I I 8 and hencelocking side gear I2 while simultaneously freeing side gear 10. Therotation of the shaft It will then be transferred through the gears 82and 84 to rotate side gear I0 in a counterclockwise direction.

The rotation of side gear I0 will rotate the gear.

94 which meshes with the gear 96, thus rotating the shaft 22 and screw34 and gear 36 attached thereto. The gear 36 meshes with the gear 68which drives the wide gear 64 which in turn meshes with the gear teethformed on the nut 38. The interaction of gears 36, 68, 66 and 40 is thesame as that described with respect to gears 44 and 62 and gears andgear teeth 43. The result will be that the screw 34 will rotate slightlyfaster than the nut 38 so that the nut will travel to the right untilthe stop member I24 formed at the end of the innertooth space of gear 66is contacted by the gear teeth 40. This is the extreme limit of rotationof the shaft I 6 in a counterclockwise direction. In the applicationsused this will be beyond the limit of motion before a reversal ofdirection of shaft I6 would normally take place. When shaft I6 rotatesin a clockwise direction the nut 38 will move to the left until one ofthe gear teeth 40 contacts a left-hand stop member I26 formed in theintertooth space of the gear 64. When this occurs gear 66 will belocked, thus immobilizing gear 68 and hence gear 36. Immobilization ofgear 36 will stop the rotation of the shaft 22 and hence the gear 96.The clockwise rotation of the gear 94 will thus carrythe arm I9ixra?clockwisaidireetiommovingathapirr liliidownawardly; aswiewedun'Figure 1; This wi1lcmovethe arnr H 4 downwardly and; carry arm. Hitdown-- wardly simultaneously: locking. the arm 85 and freeing the arm'90-:- This-lwill 'lock the=side*gear. 10 and f fee the: side gear-12LThis'actionwill' take. place irrthe reverse direction at exactlythesamepoint in'the rotation ofsliaft lG-as it occurred. when 'tlieshaft was rotating in' the counterclocke wise-direction:

The locking action can-be best understood by referring to- Figures 6 and7. The bracket 20: isshow-n without its-associated gears and screw.Thespring lzfi'urgesthebracket 212- to rotate in a clockwise" directionviewed" from the left; Itwill-be Qb'serVed that' the. arm I 99" is shownine dependent of the side-gear iii of thedifierential gear-to-which itis attachedand is; in Figure 6? free to rotate in a"- cc mterclockwisedirection in which tlieshaft I5 being driven. The arm 21 carrying thepinHi8 makes an angle of approximately 99 with the-arm H8. The" arm 85 isprevented from rotatingloy the-arm H4. Arm 1 I4 iii-turn is preventedfrom-rotating'by the arm 1 l8 w-hich is in dead center position withrespect to-the-pin. IE8". This pinis lodged in a slot H8 formed in thearm H8-sothat arm HSca-nnot be rotated by means of arm ll l due to thefact that both arms- H8 and H4 are secured'tothe same shaft H2. The. arml9 carrying the pin W5 is likewiselocked' since'me pin Hit-is lodged inaslot l i5" formed'in'the-arm it so that the bracket 18 islikewiseimmohilizedi As viewed in Figure- 6, then, the arm- Siiis free.The bracket 26 is being-urged torotate in a-clockwise direction asviewed" from the left by the spring 28. The angiebetween arm- Ii 3 andarm 21 is approxi mately- 90; that: is on dead center. This dead centerposition locks: arm H8 and hence locks arm H4, arr 3 6, arm iiiand thebracket i8;

Whenthe-nut 46 locks and the bracket 29'. is carried around in aclockwise direction viewed from the right against the action. of thespring I28 the arm 2! will. rotate in a clockwise direction viewedfromthe right and will move from wardly until the arm I9 forms an angleof QO with the arm H4; Whenarm fit-is locked arm H8 is locked, thuslocking arm 98 and hence side gear '52 to which it is attached. Therotation of arm Hi to the position shown will free arm 86 and hence theside gear i i to which it is secured. The arm i9 is urged to rotate inaclockwise direction, as viewed in Figure 7, by means of spring ltd. Astop member I 32 stops the rotation of the bracket iii and hence the arm59 at a position at which the arm it makes an angle of 99 with the arm ito ensure that the parts will be held in a dead center position.Similarly, a stop member 35 as shown in Figure 6 stops the rotation. ofbracket 26 under the influence of spring $23 when arm 2! makes an angleof 90 with arm H8. By disposing arm H4 at an angle of 68 with respect toarm H8 it is only necessary that bracket 2c or bracket I8 rotate throughan angle of 30 to accompiish the transfer of the output.

lrrEigure l the outputzis removedzzthrought a gear I50 which mesheswithigear Hill... Thegeart lfiiliis: secured to; shaft 1.52": mounted;for rotaticn: in a bracket I54: carried by. the' frame.- it; A.hevehgear' i551 is securedto' shaft 52: for rotae tionztherewith.andmeshes with a .bevel gear.- I58. secured to a. shaft ifiil. forrotation therewith. Theshaftzitl.carriesabevelgear E52, asv can be.-seena by reference to figure 2; and this meshes. with ax secondiberel.gear lfifsjsecured toanoutput: shaft- .1 66; A spring. 68" normally;urges thebevel gear its into engagement with; the: bevel gear: i621Themember- Hllisthe driven member towhichztheoutput of shaft l6, passeswheneverthelside'gear '12.;is-ftee. When the side gear 121is:=loc-kedi,the outputimay be taken from the gear 94.. the":diaWings;I,have. shown-no output gearing associatedwith. gear Qt as in many/im-StESIICBSiit' is? necessary only-tocut in and;out outithe; output.shaft: at predetermined points; Imother words; thesoutputtaken up to a.pointbeyond-,whichitcan no: longer be handledbytheapparatus receivingthe output. As for: example; iii-1a; computer when: the input value is"so large as to exceed the limits whichcan be handled by? the computerthe, output is. transferred from the output member lillto the idlegear.94. The shaft 15 may be doing. other: work which may; be necessary. Whenthe; processv is reversed: the combination is such, that theoutputshaft. l'iili will, again be rendered operative at exactly the samepoint at which it was renderedinoperative.

It: will beseen that: I have; accomplished the objects of my invention;I have provided a de.- vice having an. input: shaft and. one or twooutput shafts with means for shifting thev input motion from one, of:the output shafts: to either another: output: shaft. or; disconnectingit from the: first; output shaft at a predetermined; point; intheprotationof the: input shaft. In my con-- struction, upon thereversal of the'direction oftravel.v of: the input shaft. the firstoutput shaft isxagainconnected to the inputshaft at: precisely thepointat which the; output was shiftedfrom it. In my construction thinput shaft is continuously;- driven while theoutput isshifted from andto a shaft at a predetermined point.

lit-will be" understood that certain f eatures' and suhcombinations areof utility and may be, employed" withoutreferenceto other features andsubcombinations. This is contemplated by and is. within thescope of myclaims. It is further cbviousthat variouschanges may be made in, detailswithin the scope ofmy claims withoutdeparting. fromothevspirit of: myinvention. It is therefore to be understood that my invention is not tobe limited to the specific details shown and described.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. An output shifting apparatus including in combination an input shaft,a differential having a pair of side gears and a third gear meshing withboth of said side gears, means for rotatably mounting said third gear,means for driving said mountin means from said input shaft, a pair ofoutput shafts, means for drivin one of the output shafts from one ofsaid side gears, means for driving the other of said output shafts fromthe other of said side gears, means for immobilizing one of said Sidegears, means responsive to a predetermined number of rotations of thefree side gear for freeing the immobilized side gear and meansresponsive to said predetermined r0- 7 tation of the free side gear forsubstantially simultaneously locking the same.

2. An output shifting apparatus as in claim 1 in which said meansresponsive to a predetermined number of rotations of the free side gearincludes a revolution counter having an arm normally locking the otherside gear, means carried by the free side gear for actuating saidrevolution counter, said revolution counter having means for rotatinsaid lockin arm to unlocking position after a predetermined number ofrevolutions of said free side gear. 3. An output shifting apparatusincluding in combination an input shaft, a differential having a pair ofside gears and a third gear meshin with both side gears, means forrotatably mountin the third gear, means for driving said mounting meansfrom the input shaft, an output shaft, means for driving the outputshaft from one of the side gears, a rotatably mounted interlocking shafthaving a pair of looking arms secured thereto for rotation therewith, apair of revolution counters each adapted to be respectively actuated bythe rotation of one of said side gears, each of said revolution countershaving an arm adapted to coact with respective lockin arms, each of saidside gears having an arm adapted to coact with respective locking arms,whereby one of said side gears is always immobilized, means responsiveto a predetermined movement of the free side gear for actuating itsrevolution counter arm to rotate its looking arm to free the theretoforeimmobilized side gear and substantially simultaneously move the otherlocking arm to immobilize the theretofore free side gear.

4. An output shifting apparatus as in claim 3 in which said revolutioncounter arm and said locking arm form an angle of substantially 90 witheach other when in position locking one of said side gears.

5. An output shifting apparatus as in claim 3 in which said locking armscarried by said interlocking shaft form an angle of substantially 60with each other.

6. An output shifting apparatus as in claim 3 in which said revolutioncounter arm is biased to move toward locking position and stop means forstoppin said revolution counter arm in a position at which it forms anangle of substantially 90 with its coacting locking arm.

7. An output shifting apparatus as in claim 3 in which one of saidrevolution counters comprises a housing, means for rotatably mountinsaid housing, a screw rotatably carried by said housing, means forrotating said screw from the side ill 8. gear with which the revolutioncounter is associated, a nut carried by said screw, a gear associatedwith said nut for rotation therewith, a gear having elongated gear teethmeshing with the nut gear, means for rotating said elongated gear inphase with said screw at a speed difierent than that at which the screwis rotated whereby said nut will travel alon said screw at a rate whichis a function of the difference in rotation between the screw and saidelongated gear, and means for stopping the motion of the nut after apredetermined rotation of said screw.

8. An output shifting apparatus including incombination a differentialhaving input means and a pair of output means, means driven by one ,ofsaid output means, means for immobilizing the other of said outputmeans, a revolution counter having means normally locking theimmobilized output means, means actuated by the free out put means foractuating the revolution counter, and means responsive to the revolutioncounter for freeing the locked output means after a predetermined motionof said free output means.

9. An output shifting apparatus including in combination a differentialhaving an input means and a pair of output means, a rotatably mountedinterlocking shaft having a pair of locking arms secured thereto forrotation therewith, a pair of revolution counters each adapted to berespec-' References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATESPATENTS Number Name Date 1,377,844 McCutcheon May 10, 1921 1,667,540Stroud Apr. 24, 1928 1,792,567 Breithing Feb. 1'7, 1931 2,078,161Rietsch Apr. 20, 1937 2,217,971 Smith Oct. 15, 1940 2,473,566 BrassellJune 21, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 473,542 Great BritainOct. 15, 1937

